Chapter 708: The Threefold Origin Technique and the Legacy of the Serpent

“For various reasons, the clan’s top-tier Floating-Land Core Division Arts can’t be passed on, so this ‘Threefold Origin Technique’ only ranks as a mid-tier method among them…”

Inside the main hall of the Yaoguang Star Tower, Whitebrow personally handed Song Chi a piece of pale green tortoise shell that hummed with mysterious energy.

On that tortoise shell, countless runes glimmered, inscribed with the very ‘Threefold Origin Technique’ Whitebrow had just mentioned.

“Threefold Origin Technique”—a mid-grade Floating-Land Core Division Art. With deep comprehension and a massive investment of resources, it allows the core of a chosen floating-land to be split into three parts.

Correspondingly, that means up to three Starsea Oddities can be fused later. From what Song Chi knew, this level of division technique was the one used by the Changsun Family of the Tang Dynasty.

Taking the azure tortoise shell, Song Chi was visibly excited, but not rude. He let his gaze sweep across the shell, then quickly turned his eyes back to Whitebrow.

He couldn’t help but feel grateful for everything Whitebrow had done. All it took was a speculative question using the Yaoguang Star Order, and Whitebrow responded at once—personally delivering the Threefold Origin Technique. That level of trust and support was hard not to appreciate.

Yet, when Song Chi thought about his own current resources, he realized that aside from the Golden Apple and two Timeworld Fruits at the seventh tier, he didn’t really have anything suitable to offer in return.

More importantly, he didn’t even have a ripe eighth-tier Golden Apple at hand—just those two seventh-tier Timeworld Fruits.

With that thought, Song Chi seemed to reach a decision.

He spoke up:

“Whitebrow, I owe you again and again. I won’t waste words on empty gratitude. Hmm… Now that you’ve reached Dreadnought Captain, if you ever plan to advance to a Star River-class, make sure to let me know.”

His words sounded calm on the surface, but anyone who knew Song Chi could hear the deeper promise behind them.

This wasn’t the kind of statement to be taken lightly—it was a true pledge from Song Chi himself.

Whitebrow seemed to catch the nuance in his words. Some of the chill faded from her expression, though she still spoke sparingly and just gave a nod.

……

Once he secured the Threefold Origin Technique, Song Chi quickly returned to the Dragon-Spine Continent.

Song Wujian and the others had been brought back earlier by him. Now, seeing that he’d genuinely obtained a Floating-Land Core Division Art, laughter echoed through the Dragon Whale Hall.

“Even if, as Xiaochi said, this Threefold Origin Technique is only just passable among such arts, it’s still more than enough for us to rely on for the foreseeable future…”

Song Wujian’s voice rang clearly through the hall. He then added:

“But if we use a seventh-tier Timeworld Fruit as the trade, won’t we be putting ourselves in a difficult spot?”

Song Wujian wasn’t targeting anyone and certainly wasn’t ungrateful. The Threefold Origin Technique was worthy of being a clan-guarding secret even among mighty factions, so offering it in trade was a gesture of deep friendship.

His question was purely from concern for the family’s security, not out of distrust.

Song Chi understood and quickly replied:

“Elder, I’m only planning to trade the seventh-tier Timeworld Fruit—I haven’t revealed that card yet. As for her next push for Star River-class, I’ll make sure Heavenly Ruin completes its advancement before then, snuffing out any risks in advance!”

Once Song Chi finished, all tension in the Hall melted away among the Song Family’s core elders.

No one knew the true power of Heavenly Ruin better than they did. Even newly promoted to Star-Annihilator class, it could face an eighth-tier Serpent Demon Dominator boosted by prime Floating-Land Origin. With Star River-class advancement and the Omniverse Market Projection’s help, challenging a ninth-tier would hardly be a problem either.

In other words, as long as Heavenly Ruin advanced to a Star River-class battleship, the Song Family itself would leap into the ranks of superclans. There was no need to fret about any of their secrets leaking.

No one got bogged down in the issue. Meeting each other’s eyes, the senior clan members all nodded in agreement.

Then, Song Chi and the others entered the secret chamber together to begin delving into the Threefold Origin Technique.

With the combined insight granted by the Dragon Whale Hall’s Starry Sky Throne, his Dual Pupils, and the Dao Comprehension Mat (Imitation), Song Chi was the first to master the technique.

The others emerged one after another, and soon the group began tackling how to actually split the Dragon-Spine Continent’s Origin Core.

Just over a month later, beneath the surface of the Dragon-Spine Continent—deep within its core.

Song Chi, Song Wujian, Song Shiyuan, Song Yan, and several others were gathered there.

“Xiaochi, let’s get started!”

“Right!”

As Song Chi focused all his efforts, waves of seventh-tier dark energy surged through the core chamber. Under his precise control, this vast energy was compressed and refined again and again.

Finally, that pure, concentrated energy started streaming steadily into the floating core of the Dragon-Spine Continent’s origin.

The influx of power kicked off a sort of chain reaction—the Origin Core began to tremble violently. As the foundation for the entire Floating-land, any shake in the core meant the whole continent felt it too.

Storms whipped across the land, clouds boiled overhead, and in many far-flung corners of the continent, quakes and upheavals erupted.

The earth stirred with hidden danger—dragons and serpents seemed to come alive within the land.

Luckily none of these omens lasted long—within ten minutes, everything faded away, and peace returned to the continent.

Yet what most of the Song Family’s clansmen didn’t realize was that, in those few short minutes, something earth-shattering had just happened beneath their feet.

In the hidden core chamber, the group stared at what once had been a single glowing Origin Core. Now, astonishingly, it had split into three. Each was smaller than the original for sure, but the division was unmistakable.

And this wasn’t just a simple split—the three smaller cores formed a triangle, each linked to the others by unique pipelines that enabled their energy to circulate freely. This way, the Floating-Land’s core power wasn’t weakened, and now each part could accommodate a Starsea Oddity. Marvelous, in every sense.

Remarkably, inside one of those three cores, a miniature crystal temple shimmered—none other than the newly restored Dragon Whale Hall.

“Ready to start the fusion? Honestly, I can’t wait to see what’s inside that Sumeru Python’s Belly…”

Song Xingru’s voice had barely faded before Song Shixing picked up the thread:

“Exactly! There could easily be the stash of a peak ninth-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon in there. Anyone who could push the Shedding of the Heaven-Devouring Python’s absorption rate to 62% is no minor figure—must have stockpiled a ton of rare loot…”

Truth was, neither needed to say it—Song Chi felt the same way.

He was just as curious about the collection of a senior, maybe even peak ninth-tier Serpent Demon Dominator.

If not for the fact that the Oddity’s own origin was damaged—affecting the ‘Sumeru Python’s Belly’—and that forcing it open could risk destroying the space… Song Chi would’ve been the first to explore it directly.

Buzz, buzz—

A ghostly light flickered at his brow, and the Torch Ancestral Orifice’s space opened wide.

A wave of shimmering tricolor light burst from within, flying straight for one of the two empty Origin Cores.

Hummm!

The core shuddered lightly but didn’t reject the fusion. The Shedding of the Heaven-Devouring Python was swiftly merged into the blank Origin Core.

The Dragon-Spine Continent was just a seventh-level Floating-land, and now its core was split into thirds—its energy nowhere close to a full mythic relic’s. Still,

thankfully, when the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons forcibly separated the Shedding, they’d actually prepared well. The Oddity’s origin was damaged, sure, but not much. With a third of the continent’s core endlessly nourishing it, the Shedding’s power quickly began to recover.

Alright—’quickly’ here was relative. Song Family still had to wait several years, during which they handled a lot of frontline fleet business.

But compared to mythic oddities that could take thousands or even tens of thousands of years to recover, a few years was a miracle.

……

Deep inside Dragon Spine Sacred Mountain, within the Dragon Whale Hall—

Dense, swirling Chaotic Mist wreathed the whole hall, isolating it from the outside world.

In the hall, a dozen Song Family core members sat upright, trying and failing to hide the anticipation on their faces.

Not long ago, the Shedding of the Heaven-Devouring Python had fully recovered.

From the high platform, Song Yiming stood to deliver a thorough report.

He began summarizing all the changes to the Shedding’s properties.

After Song Chi and Song Yan, Song Yiming had become another rising star; after earning his place as Dreadnought Captain and taking charge of the continent, he’d gotten intimately familiar with the Shedding’s latest state. So, he was just the person to present the findings.

“With the Shedding now fully fused with the Dragon-Spine Continent’s Origin Core and its own power restored, the major attribute changes are as follows:”

“Aside from a few traits that didn’t shift, three properties saw major improvements:

{Shedding of Legend: Actively evolve a chosen Oddity by one quality tier. The evolved oddity can’t equal or exceed the Shedding itself in rank. Cooldown depends on the evolved item’s grade—at least 500 years, at most 3,000 years.}

{Three-Color Spirit Mark: Bestows a ‘Heaven-Devouring Python Spirit Mark’ on a chosen being. Marked individuals become specially connected to the Shedding. Current mark slots: (24/10,000).}

{Sumeru Extraction: Any being with a Python Spirit Mark can, every hundred years, extract ten items from the Sumeru Python’s Belly, regardless of spatial barriers. This permission doesn’t stack; resets every century.}”

When Song Yiming finished, Song Chi and the others were quite satisfied. Of all the traits, the main concern had always been the number of Spirit Marks.

Before, the marks had been capped at 1,000. Now, with the Dragon-Spine Continent’s boost, that number had jumped to 10,000.

That’s enough to basically cover all the family’s core members—and the continent’s just hit peak level seven. Once it advanced to eight, that limit would likely explode upward again.

Besides that, the cooldown for Shedding of Legend was also trimmed down a bit—which would only grow in value as the family’s legacy continued.

Lastly, members with the Python Spirit Mark could now withdraw up to ten items each century from the Sumeru Python’s Belly—a huge boon for exploration in the Outer Domain.

In short, with the Shedding fully merged into the continent’s core, its properties had become even more astonishing.

But all of that was secondary. At this moment, everyone’s attention was locked on Song Yiming.

Or, more accurately, on what he’d report next.

With the elders’ eager eyes on him, Song Yiming went on.

“The next report is an inventory of items previously stored in the Sumeru Python’s Belly.”

“The highest-value piece is a black-grade hull armor: Primal Gold Hull Armor, and a black-grade Dawnlight Star River Cannon.”

“There are also two black-grade Oddities that can’t be converted to battleship components: the Devouring Chamber Coldfire and the Celestial Emperor’s Seal.”

“Then there are nearly twenty Gold Sanctum Oddities—twelve of which can be used as battleship modules like energy shields, hull armor, supercannons, warp devices, and more.”

“Beyond the black and gold oddities, there are almost a hundred Silver Legendary Oddities, and well over 100,000 Red-grade and lower oddities…”

“There are also twenty Ninth-Tier Dominion Souls, 240 Eighth-Tier Dominion Souls, 1,800 Seventh-Tier Dominion Souls, eight threads of Tenth-Tier Floating-Land Origin, and 780 threads of Ninth-Tier Origin…”

At that, the dozen or so gathered in the hall could barely keep from hyperventilating.

Just what Song Yiming had listed so far would have been an unimaginable fortune for the entire Song Family.

But what really pained them was the knowledge that, before Song Chi forcibly removed the Serpent Demons’ python marks, a lot of the most valuable loot may have already been taken.

That was likely why the Sumeru Python’s Belly had sealed itself up. Luckily, the originating power had also been damaged, isolating the space before all the black and gold oddities could go missing.

Aside from the oddities, those twenty Ninth-Tier Dominion Souls and eight threads of Tenth-Tier Origin were also priceless. They’re just what Heavenly Ruin and even Song Yan need right now.

All of them are peerless resources for boosting strength, desperately needed for battleships and Song Yan too.

No one interrupted—Song Yiming continued his report.

“In addition, the Sumeru Python’s Belly also holds vast stores of rare minerals: over three million titanite crystals, five million Law Stones, a hundred thousand Eternal Stone Bricks, twelve Silver Star Bangle-Cores, and more than fifty various mineral cores. They’re all ordinary, though—not a single titanite crystal core.”

“Oh, right—there’s one particularly special item…”

……

By now, Song Yiming had almost finished cataloging the space’s contents, but for this last one, he produced something truly unique.

“Is this… chaotic energy?”

At the sight of that item, Song Chi blurted out.

It immediately drew the clan elder’s attention.

“Xiaochi, you know what that is?”

Song Chi shook his head.

“I’ll need to take a closer look.”

He reached out, taking the object from Song Yiming. As it neared, Song Chi’s eyes grew brighter.

If he was unsure at first, all doubts were gone when the palm-sized crystal sphere began projecting a property panel shimmering with chaotic energy.

Name: Chaos Nest Core

Grade: Earth-rank

Status: Cleared (repeatable challenge available)

Challenge Rewards: Starsea Oddities (very low chance), Floating-Land Origin (guaranteed), Dominion Souls (small chance)…

Note: A low-level Chaos Nest from the Chaotic Divine Land, purified after clearing, now able to steadily produce a range of resources.

Once he finished reading, Song Chi quietly muttered that it was just as he thought.

He’d had a similar experience in Beidou Sevenstar Hall, but that time it had been a Heaven-rank Chaos Nest; this one was an Earth-rank.

Judging by the name alone, this Earth-rank Nest should be much easier to clear than a Heaven-rank one—though the rewards would likely be lower too.

Song Chi figured that this had probably ended up in the ninth-tier Serpent Demon Dominator’s possession by chance on the Chaotic Divine Land.

Regardless, the value was off the charts—anything that could endlessly produce resources and rare oddities wasn’t something you could price.

Most especially the Dominion Souls—even if they only dropped at a low rate, their worth was undeniable.

In the thick of a civilization war, when even actively hunting high-tier Serpent Demons couldn’t keep up with the demand for Dominion Souls, this Chaos Nest Core would be a lifesaver—especially after the war, when the shortage would only get worse.

Song Chi then explained exactly how to use the Chaos Nest Core, and, to be safe, gave it a personal trial run.

After a steady stream of dark energy, the core activated. Just as before, Song Chi joined Heavenly Ruin in entering its special chaos realm.

He tried using a Market Token again, but as before, nothing changed.

Still, Song Chi didn’t think that was because the core surpassed the power of the Omniverse Market—it was more likely due to the mysterious Chaotic Divine Land.

His run went smoothly—he cleared the Earth-rank Nest with ease.

The blood-red monsters spawned there were nowhere near the level of a Heaven-rank Nest, and with Heavenly Ruin now at Star-Annihilator class, there wasn’t much challenge at all.

But the rewards were satisfying: forty Seventh-Tier Dominion Souls, dozens of threads of Seventh-Tier Origin, and a haul of solid mid-to-high grade minerals.

Unfortunately, he soon discovered you couldn’t farm the Nest endlessly—unlike the unknown Heaven-rank type, the Earth-rank could only be cleared once every hundred years.

He stored the Chaos Nest Core in the Dragon-Spine Secret Domain. Time acceleration there didn’t affect it, but at least it was safe.

After that, the core clan members started dividing up the spoils from the Sumeru Python’s Belly.

Since all of it had come from that ninth-tier Serpent Demon’s stash, no one held back. With the civilization war raging, every bit of extra strength meant more safety—and more gains in the future.

Song Chi’s wishes were simple: he sent two black, six gold, twenty-one silver, and the rest of the red and lower oddities that couldn’t be converted to ship components straight to the Oddities Exchange.

A lot of goods had recently been traded away by Brook Benjamin and the Komoyin Serpent Sorcerer Family, but this time, not only were the shelves restocked, the store’s inventory grew even larger.

Song Chi couldn’t help but marvel at the jaw-dropping assets of a ninth-tier Dominator.

He also picked out just one component for himself—a special silver module.

Star-Annihilator Crew Module lv0

Grade: Silver

Trait: Doubles maximum allowed crew on board

Trait 2: Unlock Seals

Trait 3: While installed, no one onboard can perceive any ship secrets

Trait 4: Discern Good and Evil

Cost: 50 Eon Energy Points per person

Crew limit: 0/5000

Effect: Suppresses the energy of those on board for 24 hours. Within the crew cap, bypasses the usual resource consumption for boarding.

……